My father was a proud agnostic his whole life but he felt something was missing. He just could not bring himself to believe in Jesus. So he told me a story about 20 years ago one night he prayed for hours to believe. Odd prayer to be sure but this is what he told me. He prayed just to believe. And the next day when he woke up he actually did believe. Started working at a food shelter for the homeless. And became a much better guy. Tried to get everyone in his family to pray. It was weird at first. Praying over meals. It seemed odd.
But I had my own semi transformation years later.
So you actually CAN pray to believe.