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Lifting the axle off the ground can only be done by installing taller tires, that's not a "lift" per-se, but rather just adding ground clearance. You can get some farily good size tires on an explorer without lift if you're willing to remove whatever metal and plastic is in the way, but most folks prefer not to chop up their truck's body.
Whether you want to do a suspension lift or body lift (or both), the basic prinicipal is the same, get the truck body out of the way so you can gain ground clearance by adding larger tires. Body lift offers 0 benefit in terms of increased suspension performance since you're still running all the stock suspension stuff, you just put spacers in-between the body and frame. A suspension lift will replace the stock componentns (at least some of them) with specially designed after-market parts such as new springs/ shocks/ control arms, shackles, etc... that, in general, offer some performace advantage (such as better flex, softer ride, higher capacity and what have you) in addition to the extra stature gained.
Have you considered axle upgrades such as a limited slip or locker to improve traction first? It seems these days there are not a whole lot of places left where the Forest Service or BLM is allowing us to drive that a stock height Explorer really "can't make it" Tire chains will get you farther in deep snow and mud than huge tires, and at a tiny fraction of the cost. I've done nothing to my 97 Sport but put on the next larger tire size (265/75/16) and swap out my rear mono-leafs for the 4 leaf packs that were under a V8 AWD truck and I have no trouble keeping up with my buddies Land Rover or Xterra. Just my two cents...
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