Fear of God

Ever heard the story of the kid in the convent school that encountered a note on the table by a basket of apples that said, "take only one God is watching"? The story goes that there was another basket at the other end of the table filled with chocolate chip cookies. There was a note written in a child's hand writing that said, "take all of the cookies you want." "God is watching the apples!"
Do you ever feel like we are faced more with things that we are not allowed to do as opposed to the things that we can do, and that God is going to get you if you mess up? I was once afraid of God as if he was going to carry out some form of execution on me if I messed up. I am no longer afraid that God is out to get me.
It is those that are outside of Christ that must be fearful of God's judgment of eternal punishment. Those in Christ do not have any cause to be fearful of God's wrath.
This is not to say that we should not fear God. We are to fear God. But not in the sense of fearing his wrath in judgment. Jesus took care of that for us on the cross. Our fear of God is one of Godly fear. It is out of respect to him because of his holiness and all that goes along with his person hood. Apart from this we have no need to fear God. "You did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear" (Rom.8:15).
Does this mean that I would not be afraid, say if God suddenly appeared before me? I would fall down in fear just like everybody that has encountered God's immediate presence, as is recorded in the bible.
But I would await those words "fear not."