Heather Bellamy spoke with Sheila Jones about how the spiritual gift of tongues should be used and who Holy Spirit is.

Sheila Jones

Getting to know Holy Spirit, work with Him and be yielded to Him; learning how to not quench or grieve Him, is a journey and one that Sheila Jones has been on for many decades. Heather Bellamy spoke with her to find out what she's learned.

Heather: When did you first get to know Holy Spirit?

Sheila: In one way, it was the night I was converted. Beverley Shea was singing the song, 'He's Got The Whole World In His Hands'. I'd never heard it before. To me it was quite new. When he sang, "He's got the little tiny baby, in His hands," I thought, how lovely. Then He said, "He's got you and me" and I nearly fell off my chair, as the Holy Spirit spoke to me powerfully, "He's got you and me in His hands." I suppose that would be the first time I heard the Spirit of God talking to me.

Then in the 1960s, many Christians, both in this country and at that time, I was in India, so there, we were aware we needed much more in our lives than our traditional, good, respectable Christianity.

Heather: What was your journey to receive the gift of tongues?

Sheila: I was filled with the Holy Spirit, but I wasn't speaking in tongues. Then I was invited to go and speak to a very big gathering of Christians from many churches. I was to address them in Marathi and I was very nervous in preparing. I was thinking, "God, what shall I say?" The thought came to me, "Sheila, in the Bible, it says, 'Jesus worked with them, confirming the word with signs following', and you've got a word and no signs, so, it's just unconfirmed." I thought, "Oh, my God! Lord, help. I must have a confirmation." He said, "These signs will follow those who believe: they will speak with new tongues, they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover and so on." I thought, "It just says those who believe, so Lord, please forgive me that I've not been believing. Help me to believe." So it seemed that some words came into my head and I started to speak them. They were nice words and I'd no idea what they meant. They sounded like they might be Hebrew, or Urdu, or some Arabic. I started to speak them and away I went. I was speaking in tongues.

Heather: He challenged you another time, when you quenched Him and quenched what He wanted to do through you speaking in tongues. Tell us about that?

Sheila: It was not long after that. I was working in a situation where my senior colleagues were not used to anyone speaking in tongues. It wasn't in their thinking at all. We were in a prayer meeting and we were each given a topic to pray for and I knew it was coming up in my heart so strongly to speak these words out. Most of the staff spoke Urdu, which I didn't understand, because I had learned Marathi. In that situation, most of it was Urdu speaking and the words coming up in my heart sounded like Urdu. It was very strong and I should have spoken, but I thought, "Everybody knows I don't know Urdu. How will it sound if I suddenly start talking?" So I just refused to say what was in my heart and I made up some sort of prayer in Marathi.

After that I never spoke in tongues, not for some time. I knew I had disobeyed God and it seemed He said, "This is a weapon. It's not a toy. This is a powerful weapon, which I'm giving you to use in your spiritual life. It's not to play with."

I asked His forgiveness and, after some time, I was praying one day and saying, "Please God, give it back to me and teach me how to use it?" And this different language came. I felt very silly, because it sounded stupid. It sounded like, "Plinky, plonky, plinky, plonky, bang, bang, plinky plonky." I said, "Well, if you want me to talk that then I'll do it" and I did, but from then on I didn't use that language again. He gave me all sorts of different languages, but He taught me how to use it.

Heather: What have you learned about how to use it?

Sheila: I use it mostly in intercession, when I don't know how to pray. It's just in my heart. I know the longing in my heart and the longing in God's heart, but I can't put it in to words. I don't know accurately, in English, what it is, so I pray out of my heart in whatever language.

Heather: How can we receive more of the Holy Spirit in our lives?

Sheila: I think the key is obedience. Whatever He says, whether it's something difficult and new, or whether it's just everyday things, the more we obey little things, the more we grow.

Heather: What are the main things you've got to know about the Holy Spirit over the years?

Sheila: He's a person. He glorifies Jesus. He doesn't live for Himself. That's what I like; He glorifies Jesus. He leads us to the Father. He puts love in our hearts. He talks to us and shows us, because Jesus is in Heaven. Our glorious Father God is the creator and ruler of the universe and He's in Heaven, but the Holy Spirit is here with us. He talks to us and shows us and teaches us and suggests that we should ring this person up, or talk to that one. He's very much here with us.