Several years ago there was a pastor who said that if you used Jesus' full name when you pray in His name, then the prayer is more powerful, and demons will understand that you mean Him specifically. He said that the full name was "Jesus of Nazareth," because, you wouldn't want to confuse him with a Jesus from another town.
I tried praying like that a little bit. It felt nice to say, but the prayers weren't answered any better than they had been before or since. I don't think it is wrong to say it. I do think it is wrong to claim you have to or those in the spiritual realm won't know who you mean, or that your prayer life is more powerful if you do.
I have never really noticed how many times the references to "Jesus of Nazarus" is mentioned.
Why did Nathanael say this about Nazareth?
Jhn 1:46
And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
Strong's Concordance with Hebrew and Greek Lexicon
"nazareth"
occurs 29 times in 29 verses in the NKJV.
Mat 2:23
And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
Act 4:
8
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel:
10
“let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.
Act 10:
38
“how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
Then there is this awesome event with Saul/Paul on the road to Damascus:
Act 22:
6
“Now it happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon,
suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me.
8
“So I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’
And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’
Nazareth - Wikipedia
Nazareth (
/ˈnæzərəθ/;
Hebrew: נָצְרַת,
Natzrat;
Arabic: النَّاصِرَة,
an-Nāṣira;
Aramaic: ܢܨܪܬ,
Naṣrath) is the capital and the largest
city in the
Northern District of
Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel".
[2] In 2016 its population was 75,922.
[1]
The inhabitants are predominantly
Arab citizens of Israel, of whom 69% are
Muslim and 30.9%
Christian.
[2][3][4][5] Nazareth Illit (lit. "Upper Nazareth") is built alongside old Nazareth, and had a Jewish population of 40,312 in 2014. The Jewish sector was declared a separate city in June 1974.
[6]
In the
New Testament, the town is described as the childhood home of
Jesus,
[7] and as such is a center of
Christian pilgrimage, with many shrines commemorating biblical events.................
Panoramic view of Nazareth, with the
Basilica of the Annunciation at the center
Hebrew Netzer
One view holds that "Nazareth" is derived from one of the Hebrew words for 'branch', namely
ne·ṣer, נֵ֫צֶר,
[8] and alludes to the prophetic, messianic words in
Book of Isaiah 11:1, 'from (Jesse's) roots a Branch (
netzer) will bear fruit'. One view suggests this
toponym might be an example of a tribal name used by resettling groups on their return from exile.
[9] Alternatively, the name may derive from the verb
na·ṣar, נָצַר, "watch, guard, keep,"
[10] and understood either in the sense of "watchtower" or "guard place", implying the early town was perched on or near the brow of the hill, or, in the passive sense as 'preserved, protected' in reference to its secluded position.
[11]
The negative references to Nazareth in the Gospel of John suggest that ancient Jews did not connect the town's name to prophecy.[12]
Another theory holds that the Greek form
Nazara, used in
Matthew and
Luke, may derive from an earlier
Aramaic form of the name, or from another
Semitic language form.
[13] If there were a
tsade (צ) in the original Semitic form, as in the later Hebrew forms, it would normally have been transcribed in Greek with a
sigma instead of a
zeta.
[14] This has led some scholars to question whether "Nazareth" and its cognates in the New Testament actually refer to the settlement known traditionally as Nazareth in Lower
Galilee.
[15] Such linguistic discrepancies may be explained, however, by "a peculiarity of the 'Palestinian' Aramaic dialect wherein a sade (ṣ) between two voiced (sonant) consonants tended to be partially assimilated by taking on a zayin (z) sound."
[14]
Arabic an-Nāṣira
The Arabic name for Nazareth is
an-Nāṣira, and Jesus (
Arabic: يَسُوع,
Yasū`) is also called
an-Nāṣirī, reflecting the Arab tradition of according people an
attribution, a name denoting whence a person comes in either geographical or tribal terms. In the
Qur'an,
Christians are referred to as naṣārā, meaning "followers of an-Nāṣirī", or "those who follow Jesus of Nazareth".[16]
