What emerged from that time was a deep conviction: God was calling His people—especially His leaders—back to the foundations. Back to repentance. Back to worship. Back to simple, wholehearted obedience. Years later, as I recently revisited the transcription of that teaching, I was struck again by how timeless and urgent that message remains. True personal and corporate revival still requires restored foundations and rebuilt altars.
As we step into 2026, the word resolve still carries weight. To resolve means to come to a firm decision, to draw a line in the sand and choose a different direction. Every new year invites reflection, but after years marked by global disruption, social division, rapid technological change, and spiritual weariness, that invitation feels more urgent than ever.
We now lead in the realities of a post-pandemic life, cultural fragmentation, digital saturation, generational tension, and widespread spiritual fatigue. These pressures have not only shaped society; they have tested the foundations of leadership. What once could be hidden is now exposed. What was once sustainable through momentum alone is no longer sufficient.
The question before leaders is not whether God desires renewal, but whether we are willing to resolve and to realign with the foundations that can sustain it.
Resolve Is Not Intention—It Is Alignment:
In Scripture, renewal is never accidental. It begins when leaders make firm decisions to return to God’s ways. Resolve is more than good intentions or seasonal inspiration; it is the alignment of heart, life, and leadership with heaven’s priorities.
In times of shaking, leaders are often tempted to manage decline rather than confront drift. But God is not asking His leaders to preserve systems; He is calling us to restore altars. When the altar is neglected, spiritual authority diminishes even if activity increases.
Revival Begins With Leaders at the Altar:
The message Back to Basics was birthed in fasting and prayer, and its core truth has not changed: lasting revival flows from restored foundations of repentance, worship, and obedience. These are not entry-level disciplines; they are leadership essentials.
Leaders must understand this sobering reality: what we tolerate privately will eventually manifest publicly. Before God restores regions, families, and generations, He refines those who lead them.
This is why the book of Malachi speaks with such clarity and confrontation. It is not written to unbelievers, but to covenant people and specifically to priests and leaders who continued in function while drifting in devotion.
An Answer Within the Question:
Do you remember watching the television show Jeopardy? Contestants were required to give their answers in the form of a question: “What is Waterloo?” or “Who is Napoleon?”
In the book of Malachi, God does something strikingly similar. He gives answers within the very questions He asks. Chapters one and two unfold as a revealing dialogue between God and His people, questions that expose not ignorance, but heart conditions. These divine questions function as mirrors, revealing what had quietly eroded beneath ongoing religious activity.
The Prophetic Questions That Expose the Heart:
Malachi opens with a foundational exchange:
“‘I have loved you,’ says the Lord.
But you say, ‘How have You loved us?’”
(Malachi 1:2)
Leaders, revival cannot be sustained by gifting, experience, or influence alone. Intimacy with God is the source of authority, and when it is neglected, leadership becomes hollow.
“If I Am a Father, Where Is My Honor?”
The Lord continues: “If I am a Father, where is My honor?” (Malachi 1:6)
Honor is not a personality trait; it is a covenant value. In an age shaped by outrage culture, public critique, and the digital amplification of offense, leaders must intentionally model honor.
How leaders speak about authority—spiritual, civic, or generational—shapes how people perceive God Himself.
Dishonor fractures alignment, even when theology remains intact. Honor does not eliminate discernment or correction, but it governs the spirit in which truth is expressed. Leaders who lose honor eventually lose influence.
“If I Am a Master, Where Is My Fear?”
God presses further: “If I am a Master, where is My respect?” (Malachi 1:6)
The issue God confronts is not belief, but reverence. The priests were still offering sacrifices but they were offering God what cost them little.
Familiarity had replaced fear. Convenience had replaced consecration.
In a digitally saturated age, leaders must guard against offering God fragmented attention, hurried devotion, and distracted worship. God does not receive leftovers, and leaders who model partial devotion teach people to do the same.
We cannot steward holy fire while tolerating polluted sacrifices.
Relational Integrity Precedes Sustained Revival:
Malachi then confronts covenant unfaithfulness—between brothers, within families, and across generations. God directly links relational integrity to spiritual authority. When leaders tolerate division, unresolved offense, or betrayal, they limit both influence and impact.
The promised restoration of fathers and children in Malachi 4 is preceded by the repentance of leaders in Malachi 1–3. Generational healing does not bypass leadership humility.
A Refiner’s Fire for the Leaders First:
Malachi 3 offers a sobering promise: “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver… and purify the sons of Levi.”
Before God purifies the people, He purifies the priests. Leaders must be willing to sit in the fire—to allow motives, methods, and misplaced ambitions to be refined.
The refining fire is not punitive; it is preparatory. But it requires resolve.
“Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord. (Malachi 3:7)
This is heaven’s invitation to leaders in 2026.
A Line in the Sand for 2026:
As leaders, our resolve must be unmistakable:
• To rebuild altars before building platforms
God is not searching for flawless leaders, but for yielded ones.
Those Who Fear the Lord:
“Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened…” (Malachi 3:16)
In every generation, God preserves leaders who fear His name more than they fear losing relevance or influence. These leaders do not manufacture revival; they cultivate environments where God is welcomed to dwell.
May 2026 be marked by leaders who resolve to return to first love, to holy reverence, and to restored foundations.
This is the call back to basics.
(adapted and updated for 2026 from a January 2013 article by Doug Stringer)
