When we approach the Lord in order to worship Him, we must remember the context. God is in the process of bringing everything into submission to the Lord Jesus Christ, and He has made us kings and priests on the earth in order to rule with Him.
God has not brought about the final manifestation of His kingdom all at once. The kingdom of God is like leaven that works through the loaf. This is a gradual process, and this is why we are commanded to pray for the kingdom to come, even though in an important sense it already has come.
God the Father has established the reign of the Lord Jesus definitively, and has given Him all authority in heaven and on earth. We are to therefore go and disciple every nation under heaven—many of which do not yet believe this Word. But the Word still commands them—kiss the Son, lest He be angry.
This means that as the effects of the leaven begin to be felt by the loaf there is frequently a violent reaction, a vain attempt to stop what is, according to the Word of God, inexorable. This reaction, and the conflict that results from it, is a condition of warfare. Our labor is not done until every thought is captive to Jesus Christ. Until that happens, many minds and many thoughts remain hostile to the Word of God. This should not surprise us. The Scriptures tell us of this in countless places.
So brothers and sisters, we are in a war. There are no neutral parties; there is no spiritual Switzerland. This war is defined by the Word of God, which has placed an antithesis between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. So our time on earth is the time of our warfare, and it is constant, total war. The front extends into everything, and a response is called for from us in countless ways. But at the center of every response is the one we are now gathered to give—the response of faithful, believing worship.