Fear the Lord

This might be a "duh" statement, but I really struggle to understand how to fear the Lord. Unfortunate, because it seems that fearing the Lord is the basis for so much in the Christian life...

"Do not take advantage of one another, but fear your God." (Lev. 25:17)

"And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?" (Deut. 10:12-13)

"And he said to man,
'The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
and to shun evil is understanding.'" (Job 28:28)

"Who, then, is the man that fears the LORD ?
He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.
He will spend his days in prosperity,
and his descendants will inherit the land.
The LORD confides in those who fear him;
he makes his covenant known to them." (Psalm 25:12-14)

And it goes on and on (especially in Proverbs) in the Old Testament, and even in the New Testament, the early church grew as it was living in the fear of the Lord (Acts 9:31).

Today I was reading Psalm 34, in which the Psalmist says:

"Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days,
keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.
Turn from evil and do god seek peace and pursue it" (Ps. 34:11-14).

In his book, Favorite Psalms: Growing Closer to God, John Stott says, "To fear God is not, of course, to be frightened of him. Its meaning here is plain from its equivalents, namely, to 'seek' him (v. 4), to 'call' him (v. 6) and 'take refuge' in him (v. 8), acknowledging our helplessness and looking to him for deliverance (compare Luke 1:50)... No one can claim to fear God who does not depart from evil both in word (v. 13) and in deed (v. 14). Nor is it enough to turn away from evil; we must positively do good and patiently pursue peace (v. 14)."

Convicting, because I've become increasingly aware of the amount of foolishness that comes out of my mouth on a regular basis. I talk for the wrong reasons. I want to use my words to impress, to entertain, to make people think better of me. I so often speak as a means of taking from others, rather than speaking as a means of giving love/hope/peace/etc. If I fear the Lord, it is His wisdom that will come out of my mouth, and I won't feel the need to fill conversation with self-seeking and useless words. If"out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks," my heart is not filled with what it should be filled with (Matt. 12:34).

Here's where you come in. If you are in conversation with me, and I am speaking foolishness, stop me. If my conversation seems self-seeking, if I'm focused on me instead of being focused on you, call me out. I genuinely want to be someone who is known for the depth of her love for others, as seen in the way she listens, cares, responds with sincerity. Yet, so often that level of genuine conversation must come from a level of vulnerability to which I am scared to go, from a security that it really doesn't matter what you think of me because it's not about me at all. Hopefully, as I learn to fear the Lord my perspective will continue to shift - I will further internalize that it's not about me at all, so vulnerability is not something to be afraid of but something to welcome, because my identity comes only from Christ on the cross.

Please help me in this.