While prayer is about asking God for help, meditation is about clearing our heads, so we better can assess our current situation and make decisions. These decisions often become easier to do, when we heed our intuition. Our intuition is that nudge telling us to either go for it, or not to. It's always bound to the present situation and can easily be discerned, when we stand in a store looking to buy something. It can also be sensed like a warning.
To access your Higher Self, it's like having a bit of a boss within, who knows what is best for you, such as helping you to get your needs met. It can be about resting more, eating better, or make that phone call you've been putting off. Something you should do, but not out of obligation or guilt, but because it will lift you.
And what is then our inner voice? It can be described as your heart's voice. What you really feel like, and want, regardless of whether it's reasonable, logical or affordable. It probably isn't, but if you dare follow it, it's when you let love rule. Let me give you my own example:
In fall 2009, I was forced to leave my apartment in Malmö, south of Sweden, after living there for 9 years. I was a month behind with rent, for a full year, and yet never received social security enough to cover it. So, I had to leave. My inner voice and instincts, my heart, told me I should just leave Sweden completely and go back to Hawaii, where someone lived that I longed to meet again. At the same time, I saw an offer to get more Swedish student loan to finish a degree, before turning 40 years old. This appeared at the same time I was 39 and had an advanced degree to finish. Bingo! I seized the opportunity and everything became approved within a couple of months. So, instead of becoming homeless and trapped in Swedish bureaucracy, I took the leap and moved across the globe and followed my heart. And, I received a 5 year visa.
(Unfortunately though, it didn't work out a year later. What happened can be read about in my books. And yes I would make the same decision again!)