In Genesis 3:14 God told satan that he would eat dust all the days of his life. What is dust? In the Garden when God cursed Adam, He said this:
“…for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19)1
Dust is the flesh of man, and the flesh of man is the food of satan.2 Flesh speaks of human self-effort. When we look to the flesh, we are looking to ourselves to redeem ourselves. We are striving to perfect ourselves, provide for ourselves, heal ourselves, deliver ourselves, and save ourselves by working in the sufficiency of our own strength. The food of satan is our fleshly perspective.
The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. (Romans 8:6, NASB)3
The devil wants us to be conscious of the flesh, the sin in the flesh, all of our failures, and all of our weaknesses because he knows that when we are conscious of dust, it’s death for us. How does satan get us to look at the flesh? He uses the weapon of the law which reminds us that we have fallen short. He shoots his fiery darts of doubt, fear, and condemnation by using the law against us. Jesus redeemed us from the curse of a fleshly perspective by giving us His own mind, the “mind of Christ,” and sending the Holy Spirit to renew our minds to the truth.4
(from pages 100-101 of Unveiling Jesus)
Want more from Tricia Gunn? Check out excerpts from the Unveiling Jesus 20-part series!
Unveiling Jesus, by Tricia Gunn, is a verse by verse study of the pure gospel of grace. It’s an amazing journey of love, identity, and freedom in Christ.
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1All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
2Genesis 3:14
3Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
41 Corinthians 2:16″
