E. Stanley Jones, famous missionary to India at the beginning of the last century, summed up the matter for us. Prayer is surrender – surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will.
If I throw out a boat hook from a boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the short? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God.
Don’t bother to give God instructions; just report for duty.