Fear of the Lord

Many believers I have talked to are, at least at times, afraid of God. The very idea of appearing before God's judgment someday is terrifying to them. The phrase "the fear of the Lord" or "the fear of God" or similar phrases occur many times in the Bible, which seems to give ground for this attitude.

But should believers be afraid of God? The answer to that is a clear "No." So, what does the Bible mean by "the fear of the Lord"? I'll try to explain this as best as I can below.

As Obedient Children...

As obedient children do not conform the the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance (1Peter 1:14).
When I was preparing a Bible study on this passage recently the phrase "obedient children" jumped out as significant. It's used as if it were the basis for something, namely: non-conformity to our former way of life. So, in trying to formulate an inductive question about that, I thought about alternatives to "obedient children," like "[merely] compliant children," or  "slave children."
Obedience is qualitatively different that both compliance and slavery - which is to say nothing about what it is to be God's children.

What Do You Have in Mind?

When Peter took Jesus aside to rebuke Him for teaching that He would suffer, be rejected by the religious leaders, be killed and then raised after three days (Mark 8:31-32), Jesus rebuked Peter with those famous words "Get behind me Satan! You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns" (Mark 8:33).

Peter's problem was that he was thinking like a human.