Is my understanding of prayer similar to the “spiritual warfare” practiced by some evangelicals and charismatics? Yes, to the extent that I agree that prayer should be imperative and aggressive. We should be engaged to alter the spirituality of families, corporations, and nations.

…We need to “take back our cities for God,” as one writer puts it. I differ, however, in my understanding of the demonic. I do not believe that evil angels seize human institutions and pervert them. Rather, I see the demonic as arising within the institution itself, as it abandons its divine vocation for a selfish, lesser goal.

Therefore I would not attempt to cast out the spirit of a city, for example, but, rather, to call on God to transform it, to recall it to its divine vocation. My spiritual conversation is with God, not the demonic.

from The Powers That Be