Take a stroll down the self-help section of any bookstore and you will find plenty of books to help you think and dream bigger. These books (many quite excellent, others not so much) will challenge you to find your purpose—the reason you were born. These titles resonate with us because deep within most of us have that yearning for significance.  We want to feel that our life counts. We long for that sense of belonging and meaning. If you’re like me, you dream of the day when you can spend more time pursuing your passions. To be human is to search for the answers to bring those dreams to fruition. There is only one problem. It is called “the DRAGONS”.

I do agree that there is within each one of us a higher calling or a transcendent purpose. God created that yearning within you. Your purpose is that intersection where God’s will, your personal joy, and your service to people intersect. In an ideal world, it is your destiny.

So, why is it that so many people (most in fact) never reach that lofty perch?

The reason is that there is an adversary to your destiny. In the Bible (1 Peter 5:8), we are told that this enemy’s objective is your destruction. We are given the admonition to “be alert and of sober mind” in order to resist this onslaught.

There are many names for this “adversary”. Christian tradition calls him “Satan” or “the Devil”. Steven Pressfield in his bestselling book, the War of Art calls it “the Resistance”. I have coined another term to capture this insidious foe. I call it “the DRAGONS”.

The DRAGONS primary objective is to keep you from your own pursuit of influence. It is easy to think of the enemy as some mystical force that is difficult to qualify or pinpoint. it is also easy to think of the enemy of our dreams as some external aggressor that impinges upon our aspirations.

I like to think of it as “the DRAGONS” because it helps me understand that the enemy’s power tends to impact us more internally than externally. The enemy does this not by hurling a single stone at us. Rather, the adversary of your dreams uses a full onslaught of siege warfare to derail you from your ordained path. The DRAGONS represent a seven-part collective that is intent on your destruction. That is the tough news.

The good news, however, is that because the DRAGONS’ strategy centers on a foundation of lies, when you embrace the truth you ultimately hold the power over them. In other words, you decide how much destruction, if any, the DRAGONS unleash. In the presence of each of the DRAGONS, there is an alternate reality (which happens to be the truth). That is the great news.