Buddhist meditation has some similarities and differences wrt Christian prayer. Similarities: quiet, tapping into "greater powers" (in one case God, in the other it is the consciousness that surrounds and includes us), finding peace. Differences: Buddhists do not typically "ask" for something (whether it be material or help for a loved one or guidance) because that implies you are communicating with a force that is outside yourself and separate.
Instead we are taught how to find a mental place that is both calm and energetic, peaceful and powerful. One of the most common practices involves following your breathing. At its simplest: "I am breathing in; I am breathing out." The idea is to strip away illusions, fantasies, fears, and find that core which is real. Our breath and the physical sensations of our body are the most concrete manifestations of reality.
There is also a "loving kindness" meditation in which you practice sending loving energy out, first toward yourself, then toward those you love, then to strangers, then to your enemies, then to all. I cannot say whether those you are aiming energies toward feel anything from this, but I know that the practice leaves me feeling enriched.
Again, please understand this is a simplistic overview. :) And the note from above is that in some cultures, like Tibet, which had a pantheon of gods before Buddhist teachings came along, have managed to merge Buddhism with the old gods and so it may seem like they worship them. Similar, I think, to how indigenous people in Mexico blended the Catholic saints in with their gods. But Zen and Theravada Buddhism, which are the forms I've studied, do not have gods.