FAITH CAPSULE:  Praise God with understanding to provoke His hand.

The manner of praising God matters as the mark of being mindful of God by David. He was praise-full that testifies his way of life before God.
Are you praise-full before God?
God raised David, and He identified David over King Saul. God spoke through Samuel, “…The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” (1 Samuel 13:14) A man with the heart of praising God is mindful of God, a position to become lifted by God. 
Praising God is not only in singing to God but declaring the awesomeness of God for what He has done, what He is doing, and what He will do. Continuous praising God is a demonstration of faith. It is seeking God diligently that gains the attention of God.
David declares what he was doing with praising God: 
“I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies.” (2 Samuel 22:4) 
Psalm 145:4 admonishes all that praise declares the acts of God from one generation to another, “One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts.” 
God is an awesome God, and whosoever with the understanding to give thanks and praise to God shall experience the decoration of God for good. The Bible records that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed Nego (three friends of Daniel) were sentenced to a burning fiery furnace fire when they refused to bow for a foreign God. The friends of Daniel responded to the death sentence with a praise declaration, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18) 
The praise declaration of God will decorate one with deliverance and preservation. The three friends of Daniel praised God to experience the decoration of God with deliverance from an untimely death.
Giving self to a reasonable sacrifice of praise to God is seeking God diligently to provoke the victory from God. 
King Jehoshaphat, with understanding, engaged praise before God to provoke victory over enemies.
2 Chronicles 20:21-22 states, “And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: “Praise the Lord, For His mercy endures forever.” Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.”  
The documentation of praising God to gain victory testifies that God will not fail when one praises God with understanding.

Prayer for today: Ask that God enable you to live a life of praising God.